Favorite TV Episodes of 2011

[indy42 - THE FILMMAKER]

Since we had a top films of 2011, I figured we could have a thread on the top 10 TV episodes of 2011.

First, as always, honorable mentions:

HM1. Game of Thrones: Pilot

While I haven't progressed past the pilot for me-wanting-to-read-the-book-first related reasons, the pilot was a great piece of televisions that set up the world successfully.

HM2. The Walking Dead: Pretty Much Dead Already

Say what you will about the first half of the more slow-burn second season, but the last 10 minutes of the mid-season finale was friggin' epic.  Enough to warrant the entire episode being an honorable mention.

HM3. The League: The Sukkah

The League is a show that has its comedic ups-and-downs, but you can always expect two things:  It'll be at least entertaining, and it'll be ridiculously vulgar.  This episode was (in my opinion) the best of its third season - a sukkot episode - one of the more obscure Jewish holidays.  Awesome.

HM4. Person of Interest: Witness

I've been relatively disappointed with Person of Interest.  It started as a great proposition - Abrams produced, Jonah Nolan written, and Michael Emerson starring in a dystopia-lite Big Brother crime thriller.  Unfortunately, it became more procedural, but in this episode, it's seventh, it tied in the one and only repeating plot thread, created a direction and a villain for the series (played awesomely by Enrico Colatoni) and gave us a great case-of-the-week to boot.

HM5. Terra Nova: Pilot

Yeah, the season after this sucked.  But the pilot was entertaining as hell.  Dinosaurs, time travel, and Spielbergian family drama.  It fell apart within minutes in its second episode, but for a brief 84 minutes, Terra Nova looked like it could have been great.

NOW FOR THE REAL LIST…

10.

How I Met Your Mother
Bad News (Aired Jan. 3)

I had been an on-and-off viewer of How I Met Your Mother, using it as essentially a back-up when The Office/30 Rock/The Big Bang Theory wasn't on.  Yes, it was essentially a slightly-more clever 'Friends'.  It was this episode - the earliest in the year on this list - though, that made me a true HIMYM fan.  The episode itself was very funny, what with the pregnancy subplot, but it was the gut-punch reveal at the end that made it really great.  It proved the show could handle really emotional subject matter in a realistic, serious way, and do it without losing its voice as a sort of irreverent show.  And the numbers countdown was brilliant.

9.

The Walking Dead
Save the Last One (Aired October 30)

The second season of The Walking Dead has its issues, to be sure - but this episode showed some of the brilliance that it's capable of, and, for the first time, showcased it really taking advantage of the serialized nature of television in a way the first season didn't.  From the opening flashback of Shane going all Travis Bickle to the twist finale, 'Save the Last One' was a really fun episode with some good character moments - from Lori and Rick contemplating life in the zombified world to Shane's final decision.

8.

Community

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Documentary Filmmaking: Redux (Aired November 17)

I was worried that this episode would just be another rehash of the funny-but-not-classic Mockumentary-parody from the second season, bashing on The Office and Parks and Recreation.  Instead, however, Community managed to take on not only pretentious documentaries but also gave us a strange and funny view into the warped mind of the Dean as he goes slowly insane.  Bonus points for finally including Luis Guzman.  There are other classic bits in here too - Jeff's Dean impression, Chow's Jeff/Dean understudy stuff, and the throwaway joke about motion-capture technology. [/center]

7.

30 Rock

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100 (Aired April 21)

This episode had all the makings of a 30 Rock classic.  First off, multiple Alec Baldwins.  What else is there to say?  The gas leak made for some great bits, my favorite being Pete attempting the alphabet with Leo Spaceman.  Michael Keaton as a janitor a few days away from retirement was great too.  My favorite 30 Rock episode from last year, and much better than the oddly disappointing "Respawn" finale.[/center]

6.

The Killing

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Pilot (Aired April 3)[/center]

The Killing gets a lot of flack for the finale and, overall, a season which took the audience on a windy road filled with red herrings and subplots that went nowhere.  I, however, loved The Killing's first season, warts and all, because it felt real, it remained atmospheric and character-based, and the acting was top-notch.  Do I wish they spent a few less episodes on Bennet Ahmed?  Yes.  Do I think those episodes were bad?  No.

But enough about the season as  whole - the pilot was just a fantastic piece of television.  It felt like a movie, not an episode of Law & Order, which is what a long-form murder mystery television show needs to feel like.  The characters were well thought out and acted, and the several scenes legitimately gave me goosebumps.

5.

Homeland

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The Weekend (Aired November 12)[/center]

I just finished watching Homeland in about 2 days - damn, it's good.  It is, essentially, 24's more thoughtful and cynical older brother, and it earns that in the best possible way.  Though I have to admit, several plot beats felt directly lifted from 24 (specifically, the terrorist couple is right out of the second season of 24), the characters remained important throughout.  'The Weekend' has been described as  a "watershed" episode of Homeland, but I disagree.  I think it was a logical next step in the show's evolution.  It was built upon a question that may not even sustain a feature-length movie - is he a terrorist or isn't he? - and managed to sustain it for 6 episodes.  "The Weekend" finally brought an answer (not the final answer, though) into focus.  The ending was great, and the stuff between Carrie and Brody, especially in their final conversation, was some of my favorite character interactions of the year.

4.

Justified

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Bloody Harlan (Aired May 4)

Justified's second season was awesome, due to mostly to the Bennetts, led by the brilliant Margo Martindale as Mags.  While I was a tad disappointed throughout the season as Dickie Bennett didn't get a whole lot of significant screentime, in the last three or so episodes and especially the finale, Jeremy Davies finally got time to shine, especially in his scene with Raylan.  Here's to hoping he returns in season 3!  Overall, 'Bloody Harlan' was Justified at its best:  Dramatic, explosive, suspenseful, but all with a light touch.  Extra points for one of the best child actors on a television series I've seen on a long time.[/center]

3.

Doctor Who

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The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon (Aired April 23/April 30)

Yeah, I kind of cheated by putting these two together.  Like the How I Met Your Mother episode, here's one that turned me from a casual Doctor Who fan to a, well, less-casual Doctor Who fan.  It packed a ridiculous amount of punches in the two-part episode - the Doctor's death, the Silence (better than the Weeping Angels - yeah,  said it), River Song's backwards love story, Canton Everett Delaware III, some awesome shot-in-America stuff (look at that screenshot above… beautiful).  All while creating a tantalizing season-long mystery that, while in the end, being a little disappointing, was certainly the best timey-wimey season arc I've seen on DW.[/center]

2.
"]
The Walking Dead

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What Lies Ahead (Aired October 16)

It hasn't been a good year for The Walking Dead - 2011 will go down as the year Frank Darabont was canned (damn you, AMC), the year the show was confined to a farm for the first seven episodes, and the year many began to write it off.  However, for the evening of October 16, TWD was simply an amazing piece of television.  Those first 16 minutes - apparently bastardized from the original full-length episode - were so good, I forgot I was watching a television show and thought, for a second, I was watching a motion picture.  The cliffhanger was a great setup for the season.  How you feel about the rest of the season depends on the viewer (personally, I think it's been just as good as Season 1, just a bit too stretched out), but I think we can all agree that "What Lies Ahead" was The Walking Dead at its best.[/center]

1.

Community

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Remedial Chaos Theory (Aired October 13)

What else?  This brilliant episode had everything someone could want from a Community episode (minus Chang and The Dean): It explored each of the characters relationship with the group, their individual dynamics, and how they all work comedically.  And, it was hilarious.  Each timeline was great: My favorite was when Troy got the pizza - chaos reigns!  Each character really did get a chance to be front-and-center, and the kicker that was the tag - Evil Troy and Evil Abed! - was the best 1 minute of Community since the original Spanish rap.  Let us hope that Community not only returns this spring but for many more after that.  6 Season and a Movie![/center]

[Blake (HDLYR)]

Your #1 choice is fully deserving of the spot, no doubt about it. This is pretty cool, Indy - I'll see if I can get around to doing my own list.

[Sam Winchester]

5-10: Sitcoms/Cartoons

1-5: One-Hour or More Programming



10.The Ballad of Scary Mary (Sym-Bionic Titan)

I absolutely love cartoons. I think they're underappeciated and thrown to the side when you get older, but you know what? Screw that. I still watch Voltron, The Mighty Ducks and, in most recent times, anything by Genndy Tartakovsky, which is why I'm very angry that his newest endeavor, Sym-Bionic Titan was cancelled by CN. It was a John Hughes movie with robots and monsters. If you haven't had the chance to check this show out, by all means, please do. It's amazing, as every Genndy Tartakovsky lover can only expect.

9. Happiness (Wilfred)

I'll say it once, I'll say it again: Wilfred is a darker, more adult-orientated Calvin and  Hobbes. With more drug, sex and dark humour. But that's what makes Wilfred weirdly charming. The first episode, Happiness, introduces us to the suicidal Ryan Newman, who starts to see his pretty next door's neighbor dog, Wilfred, as a man inside a dog suit. I found myself laughing without even knowing, smiling throughout the whole thing and in the end, very happy.

8. Pregnant (Louie)

Louis is the second FX comedy show in this list, and with good reason. I think it's surreal, strange, funny without trying to be. I may be biased, I adore Louis CK's stand up, and this show is practically life through his lens. The show is a strange mixture of Michel Gondry and a regular sitcom, and Pregnant has Louis dealing with his sister coming in to extremely hilarious and unforseen consequences, with an oddly touching conclusion. Blantant, real and very funny, Louie is quality comedy.

7. Symphony of Illumination (How I Met your Mother)

How I Met Your Mother is amazing. If Community breaks the rules for single-camera shows, then How I Met Your Mother breaks the rules for the standard, multi-camera, laugh-track sitcom (which are becoming dreadful, and has led to a new found hatred for the pandering and rather insulting "The Big Bang Theory.") Symphony of Illumination was sad, funny, and in the very end, heartbreaking for the very beautiful Canadian, Robin. Well told and brilliantly executed by cast and staff, it makes me forget of how he met his children's mother, and instead makes me want to hang out with the gang some more.

6. Remedial Chaos Theory (Community)

Community is best when its writers have free reign. When they look at the laws of physics and say, "Fuck it, we're flying today." And in this episode, boy, did they fly. Blurring the lines between reality and fiction is something left to the one-hour programming, but Community just doesn't agree. Balancing six-different timelines that really do make you think after the show concludes, Remedial Chaos Theory is post-modernism in a way that makes you laugh non-stop. Without a doubt, the greatest thirty-minute television airtime 2011 was ever graced with.

5. I Wish I Was the Moon (True Blood)

True Blood's premiere was awful. I'll admit it, but this is how you pick up and continue on, full throttle. "I Wish I Was the Moon" makes True Blood southern gothic. The visuals were beautiful (a vampire and human making love under the moonlight in the side of a picturesque swamp, with twisted trees and weeping willows surrounding them). The writing in this particular episode was fantastic, with the right mixture of suspense, gore, romance and action. And yes, the season finale was great, too. No Eggs jokes, please. Much too soon.

4. Season 7, Time For a Wedding! (Supernatural)

Speaking of Supernatural, season 7 has been a doozy. Like my faithful compatriot Dean said, "Supernatural can't be the same. The brothers have been through too much." And I agree. they have been through too much, from heaven, hell and back (literally), but I couldn't help but feel a little season 1-old school storytelling in the seventh season of the true predecessor to Buffy; and it's eighth episode, "Season 7, Time for a Wedding!" only cemented this with demons, a funny love story, a reference to Chuck and some soul-swapping loopholes. Improving vastly over the unfair, hit and miss season 6, Supernatural reminds me why my avatar name remains untarnished.

3. The Impossible Astronaut (Doctor Who)

According to the behind the scenes notes, Karen Gillian really did feel sad when the Doctor "died." No kidding. Brilliantly executed, The Impossible Astronaut rivals Supernatural's season 4 opener, "Lazarus Rising" as my favorite season premiere for a show. (If we could do a Best of 2008, "Lazarus Rising" would top the list off). With amazing visuals and a packed, fast- paced storytelling that included the ingenious alien religion, The Silence, by my favorite writer of television currently, Steven Moffat, this premiere led to what could be the most complex arc in the Who-verse, and we're all better for it. It's fair too note that series 6 was riddled with amazing episodes, including "A Good Man Goes to War" and "The Doctor's Wife," penned by the brilliant Neil Gaiman.

2. Bloody Harlan (Justified)

Justified has become a part of me. From it's crisp dialogue to hooking plots, Justified remains as a flawless show, in my honest, non-important opinion. I admit to not liking the Pilot the first time I saw it for some ghastly reason; but after deciding to give a second chance, it hit me like a pile of gold bricks. I love this show. It has no weak points thus far. It just doesn't. The characters are all firm and amazing, with Olyphant's Raylan Givens being a classic American character in recent memory; the plot lines are riveting and the villains more and more complex, which is what season 2 surprised me with: Mags, the most devious mother since the Bates clan. And Bloody Harlan just captivated everything beautifully, ending in a climax between the two main characters that was as quiet and powerful as Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 2 was. Bring on season 3, my lovelies.

1. The Wedding of River Song (Doctor Who)

Oh, goodness. Take cover. But really. Call it a cop-out, call it a weak ending, one thing is for sure: Steven Moffat sure knows how to combine adventure, science fiction and romance in give or take forty-minutes. From the colorful intro to the dark conclusion: The Wedding of River Song is what science-fiction television is all about. It juggled between two alternative time-lines, each overflowing with vibrant dialogue and visuals straight out of an adventure, pulp story (including a locomotive train that leads directly into an Egyptian pyramid that serves as Area 52. I mean, c'mon). There were so many moments that made my skin crawl: From the Doctor darting from one corner of space to the other, hunting for information on his unavoidable death  to when River tells the Doctor with tears in her eyes, "Yes" in reply to if she could really sacrifice millions of lives in order to keep the Doctor alive, to the riveting climax that leads to headless Dorium pondering on the question hidden in plain sight, The Wedding of River Song proves again why Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction in human history.

[Blake (HDLYR)]

Honorable Mention: How I Met Your Mother
7.3 Ducky Tie
It's not easy for a sitcom in its seventh year to keep on trucking along with some fresh comedy. I know a lot of viewers have grown stale of the show, but I still get a kick out of it. Barney Stinson's schtick, in particular, is a bit of a passing gimmick nowadays but how can you not be utterly amazed that Barney would pull off six months of secret hibachi cooking classes in Jersey, years of training Marshall like Pavlov's dog, accepting an unwinnable bet, and an elaborate scheme of manipulation and misdirection just for a shot to see Lily's breasts? Sometimes classic Barney reminds us just why he, and the show, are both still around and keeping us laughing for all these years.


#10 Wilfred
1.2 Trust
The whole first season of Wilfred was just a brilliant piece of dark comedy, so it's hard to pick one episode in particular that really stood out. Just off the top of my head, I'd have to go with episode 2, solely for the whole Jenna "has a dick" thing. Sociopathic Wilfred is always best at misleading Ryan into an awkward situation... and it doesn't get much more awkward than that.


#9 The League
3.8 Thanksgiving
The League is probably my all-around favorite sitcom on the air right now. Every episode I can sit and watch over and over again and still find myself laughing. Season 3 kept the laughs coming in full force, and it was really a toss up between the episode "The Au Pair" and this one. I picked this one, just for the outrageous guest appearance by Jeff Goldblum as Ruxin's father (basically Ruxin x 10), and Sarah Silverman up to her usual shenanigans. Definitely the dirtiest episode of the series (and that's saying a lot considering they filmed a porno in the season premiere), but I laugh about Goldblum's scenes just thinking about them.


#8 Revenge
1.10 Loyalty
I'm all about this show, as I'm sure you can tell by my lengthy reviews. The whole season has been a steady on-ramp toward awesomeness, but this episode really capped off the first stretch of the season even better than I expected. You can check out my full review here in which I gave this episode A+. Awesome turning point for the camaraderie between Emily and Nolan.


#7 Community
2.14 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Taking a widely known but kind of archaically nerdy pop-culture reference and making a whole episode about it is a pretty hefty risk, but that's what Community does best. This whole episode was an amazing mix of absurdity, nerdcore shout-outs, sweeping fantasy adventure, heartfelt friendship, and setting up Pierce as the not-really-evil-just-pathetic villain that he became in season 2. This kind of episode could have easily been a one-hit gimmick by poking fun at the game Dungeons & Dragons, but it became so much more. The characters hilariously got wrapped up in higher stakes as the game went on, and so did we.


#6 White Collar
3.10 Countdown
Season 3 of White Collar has been a bit of a mixed bag with me. I have a hard time finding faults with the first 2 seasons, but for some reason this year hasn't quite blown me away yet. I think I attribute it to how easily the Nazi plunder came into Neal's possession at the beginning of the year. Seemed like a bit of an easy cop-out. Regardless, the fun has been the cat-and-mouse game between Neal and Peter - Neal trying to keep the treasure a secret, and Peter always on the verge of catching him in the criminal act - and you're never quite sure who's gonna come out on top. No episode exemplified the back-and-forth strains on their partnership (and friendship) better than this episode, where Neal has to pull his most daring con yet to keep his secret safe. It's not until the twist ending, where someone close to both of them is put in immediate danger, that Neal is finally forced to come to terms with what he's doing.


#5 New Girl
1.1 Pilot
Sweet, charming, kinda girly. I don't care what the haters say, I like this show. I could sit and watch it for hours. If not for Zooey being so sweet and cute all the time, I could still sit and watch Max Greenfield's Schmidt with his scene-stealing antics and be perfectly amused. The pilot had me chuckling the whole way through. I like when a show doesn't care about being complex in their design or revolutionary in their genre, and all they want to do is entertain and put a little joy in your life instead, because that's what New Girl is all about.


#4 Pretty Little Liars
2.13 The First Secret
Again, full review here. This special Halloween-themed installment broke away from the present timeline and told a flashback story. It could have easily been a spooky, fun, holiday-theme episode, but the writers decided to make it a crucial keystone to the series' mythos, which was unexpectedly amazing. All sorts of doors are opened to what may have really happened to Alison DiLaurentis, with a peek into "A's" obsessive underlying psychology. It's an episode that kinda makes you sad Alison isn't around from week to week, or wonder how the show can still be so interesting without her now - which is probably the best compliment you can give an episode like this.


#3 Justified
2.9 Brother's Keeper
Justified's season 2 finale is an easy pick for awesomeness, for sure. But for me, episode 9 was where it started, the beginning of the end, the spark of the all-out Givens-Bennett-Crowder war and bloodletting in Harlan County for the remainder of the season. After 9 episodes Loretta McCready discovers the identity of her father's killer, and Raylan goes toe-to-toe with the violent man-beast Coover Bennett. Jeremy Davies, in his performance as Dickie, easily gives one of the most defeated and haunting screams for mercy you'll ever hear. "DON'T YOU HURT MY BROTHER, RAYLAN!" Chills...


#2 Community
3.4 Remedial Chaos Theory
I won't go into this one too much since it's making everyone else's list, and deservedly so. It's just an all-out half-hour of absurdity and heart - the two things that make any episode of Community memorable when used in tandem. Just really clever writing all around topped with some outrageous comedy. Pregnancy test joke, and flaming troll doll. Enough said.


#1 Supernatural
6.15 The French Mistake
I'm a bit behind in my Supernatural viewing, but don't worry, I made sure this episode from last season was indeed shown in 2011. In a list that is composed almost exclusively of 1st and 2nd season shows, I'm just as surprised as anyone else that a 6th season episode of Supernatural would ever make my list. But it just goes to show that this series is still running with the same burning rockets it's always used, and it's far from giving up. It's just as deserving of its place on television as any fresh and original new show out there, if not more deserving. The French Mistake is not only the single funniest episode of the series, but it's the most brilliant use of self-aware meta-referencing that's ever existed in fiction. And the crazier thing? It's completely in context within the saga of Supernatural. Only on this show could two characters be thrown into an alternate universe where they corporeally possess the real-life actors who play them on a real-life TV show that we, the audience are watching, and after all that, we'd not only continue watching the show, but praising it more than ever. It's more than jumping the shark. What's that quote about tap-dancing around the shark?

[Necktie]

I'm sad I'm the only person in the world that didn't like Remedial Chaos Theory.

[Nick]

First, some Honorable Mentions.



Grimm “pilot”
Grimm is a look at what happens when supernatural creatures invade our world, and one of the only things stopping them is a homicide cop named Nick, descended from a clan of hunters, “the Grimms. He can see the beasts before other humans, and tries to solve cases.

The pilot was decent. It introduced the characters, the conflict, and gave you the general idea how the episodes will go. I think it’s nice addition to TV. While it’s too early to judge the show as a whole, so far it has promise.



Person of Interest “Witness”
To me it’s like a lower key Bourne Identity meets Minority Report with a “Law and Order" style procedural. I’m not too impressed with the series so far, but I do enjoy Finch and Reese’s great rapport and the flashback snippets are intriguing and give us insight into their backgrounds. I’m slowly becoming a fan of the series especially in recent episodes. “Witness” was the best episode in 2011 which kept me on the edge of my seat.



Two and a Half Men “Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt”
Perhaps one of the most hyped up episodes ever, everyone speculating how they would write off Charlie.  I prepared myself to be disappointed with this episode, but I was pleasantly surprised and the funeral scene was hilarious.  Ashton portraying Walden, a billionaire internet entrepreneur who has recently been divorced and is now suicidal, isn’t very impressive but I’ve had a few LOL moments with his character. But if anything, the addition of Ashton has brought Jon Cryer into the forefront a little with his portrayal of Alan.

Now, my Top 10



10: How I Met Your Mother  "Bad News,"
Blake said it well about this show in his post. “It's not easy for a sitcom in its seventh year to keep on trucking along with some fresh comedy.” But HIMYM does and remains one of my favorite shows today.

Bad News was a good episode. I can’t remember an episode that was so surprising or poignant than when Marshall, who was trying to reach his dad to tell him good news, learned from Lily that his dad died from a heart attack. Jason Segel's quick switch from jubilation to heartbreak was amazing, and made this episode one of my favs of 2011.



9: Fringe “Lysergic Acid Diethylamide,"
Initially I was banking on Fringe to satisfy my LOST withdrawals. Season 1 didn’t disappoint, Season 2 was so-so. Then it moved to Friday nights and I lost interest. I guess after years of constant LOST theorizing my brain was saturated. However, recently, I’ve been getting back into the series. While it can be confusing, and you really have to pay attention to wrap your head around what’s going on, the dynamic between Olivia, Peter and Walter makes it worth the effort. Walter’s banter and occasional joke continues to make me chuckle.

The title of this episode alone indicated that it would be a trip. When Olivia attempted to extricate William Bell's consciousness from hers by taking LSD, the world went topsy-turvy with Fringe-ception in the first few minutes in Olivia’s brain.  Peter and company find themselves in a city, and quickly get noticed by one of the inhabitants, Olivia’s stepfather, and have to flee a horde. William communicating via morse code from the World Trade Center was classic Fringe, and Nina trying to kill our heroes before getting pushed down an elevator shaft had me on edge. The animation was kind of cool. It was a fascinating way to bring back Nimoy and probably the best way to include a scene where Peter is attacked by a mob of zombies in lab coats and has to hop on a zeppelin to escape; Oh, and Walter screaming out excitedly LSD!! was classic.




8:The Middle,"Thanksgiving III"
The Middle features the Hecks, a strapped for cash, semi-dysfunctional family and their attempts to survive life in general in the city of “don’t blink or you will miss it”, Indiana. What I like about this show is Neil Flynn's portrayal of Mike Heck. He quietly breaks a sitcom stereotype that dates to TV's earliest years-the goofball husband. From Ralph Kramden and his animated doppelganger Fred Flintstone to Homer Simpson, from Tim Taylor (Home Improvement),  Doug Heffernan ( King of Queens), to Ray Romano's character on Everybody Loves Raymond, the blue-collar man in sitcoms tend to be endearing but ineffectual buffoons, controlled and browbeaten by his infinitely more capable wife.  However, Mike Heck presents a more nuanced version of a working man. He isn't the boss of his wife, but neither is he bossed around. He wants to make his wife happy, yet manages to keep his spine while trying.  I did enjoy the third Thanksgiving Day episode, when Mike must face the utterly mundane trials of spending it with the in-laws.



7: 2 Broke Girls, “And the Very Christmas Thanksgiving”
2 Broke Girls might be the season’s most unlikely success story, despite its overreliance on horse poop jokes and the word vagina. It’s kind of grown on me. And the premise seems simple enough; Caroline, the down on her luck trust fund princess, and Max, the sassy streetwise waitress become friends and build their dream of one day opening a cupcake shop. However, they need to raise $250,000 to do so. A tally shows how much they have made toward their goal at the end of each episode, which goes up or down. It’s undeniable that Caroline and Max have a fun chemistry, and that’s what lures me to watch this show. Then there is Oleg, the upbeat Ukrainian cook played by Jonathon Kite, who pipes in occasionally with some humor. I do have a few chuckles over how deftly the show manages to work dirty humor and visuals into its writing. But if it starts getting overzealous week after week, then I’ll be switching the channel.

The episode “And the Very Christmas Thanksgiving” brought to the table Caroline’s issues with her family and financial situation which had been glossed over since the Pilot.  There was one point in an earlier episode that toyed around with the idea, but never committed to bringing out the negative emotions of someone utterly ruined financially and socially.  Here we finally get to explore what the holidays mean to Caroline without money or even an opportunity to see her father. Despite Caroline’s horrifically inappropriate meltdown towards the end, and the overuse of puns (Elf-hole, Bi-polar Express, Children of the Corn) this episode seems to be taking a step in the right direction.



6: Happy Endings, "Spooky Endings"
I didn’t like this show at first, but it’s slowly gaining appeal, mainly because it doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Basically it’s a Friends (six friends hanging out) setting with a Scrubs-like style (pop culture references and absurd dialogue) weaved in. While I tend to yawn over the somewhat underwhelming plot lines and roll my eyes at the strange characterizations, the humorous execution and writing works for me. I chuckle now and then for 22 minutes while I decompress from a tough day.

With “Spooking Endings” the primary plot is about single Penny and her gay best friend Max dress in the year’s most outrageous couple’s costume: She’s a new mother and he is a newborn baby with his head sticking out of a baby carrier hanging off her stomach. The visual of them coordinating so he can use the bathroom gave me one of those spit-take moments.  Overall, the sharp, referential banter fired-off by a cast with chemistry makes this show one of the few Friends rip-offs to work in my opinion.



5: The Simpsons, "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts"
The Simpsons are rolling towards their landmark 500th episode.  If you had never seen the show then you have spent the last 23 seasons with the Amish. While I’ve been an on again off again viewer, I’ve always been impressed by the show's wordplay, social satire, and the fundamental honesty of the characters. It never gets stale for me. The day this series ends will be the day of piece of me dies

IMO The Simpsons episodes that strive to have a little heart without going overboard are generally going to work better than the random-gag episodes, at least at this point in the history of The Simpsons, and “Bart Stops To Smell The Roosevelts” has enough heart to see this episode through. The need to reset the scenario at the end means that Chalmers will go back to being Chalmers, and Bart and his Rough Rider bullies will go back to being bored adolescents, so really, the major question is whether the jokes worked. For the most part they did. I even laughed out loud when Otto drove into a tree.



4: Saturday Night Live, hosted by Melissa McCarthy
These days, if I’m not out raising hell, or sleeping at 11:30PM on a Saturday Night, I’m tuning into SNL. I’ve been a fair weather fan since Ford was in office and Chevy Chase played him, mainly due to years of underwhelming casting, guest stars or lackluster sketches.  But occasionally I like to tune in to see what’s going to happen. IMO that's the beauty of the show. That ever-present possibility of someone totally bombing on live national television, or making it magical. The SNL that was hosted by Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, Mike and Molly) was a perfect example of one of those magical episodes that keeps you laughing through its entirety. On the heels of her big Emmy win, she did not disappoint. She shimmied her way across the stage for a hilarious dance number with her Bridesmaids buddy Kristen Wiig, made unwanted sexual advances toward Jason Sudekis as Arlene, a horny office worker, and taste-tested Hidden Valley Ranch dressing in a manner that gave me the dry heaves - first from laughing so hard and then with actual nausea.



3:New Girl, "Pilot"
I’ll admit. I love this show. At first I cringed when my wife wanted to watch the pilot, and I retrieved my smartphone anticipating getting some Facebook time in. However, I soon found my attention quickly moving away from my wall to the TV screen.
It’s notoriously hard to pull-off a stellar sitcom pilot. It’s hardly enough time to introduce a show’s gimmick and all of its characters. Smartly, New Girl establishes that flawlessly with Jess’ hilarious meandering opening monologue, her over sharing roommate interview, which sets up an instant chemistry with the show’s three supporting male characters. The characters, writing, and premise are so settled and polished, that the pilot reads more like an in- the-zone mid-season episode.  Zooey Deschanel is the perfect casting for Jess, “adorkable,” commits to every squirmy line delivery with a verve that compares to Lucille Ball.  IMO, a comedic performance that is rare these days.



2: Once Upon A Time" Snow Falls”
It's delightful watching the writers weave fantasy and reality together in Storybrooke and then give us a heavy dose of fairy tale lore to explain a tiny bit more about the curse each week. Snow White and Prince Charming are perfectly cast, as is the Wicked Witch and most especially Rumplestiltskin. Emma is a great kick-ass character, as the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming should be, and I love the way they weave Henry into the lives of everyone. This show has lived up to my expectations.

While “Desperate Souls” is my favorite episode to date, I can’t list it here because it aired in 2012. But Snow Falls is a close second. It goes to show you that Fairy tale love can start with robbery. This episode focused on Snow White. Her background isn't what you would expect it to be. She’s not your wholesome Disney Snow White by all means, but what else would you expect from former LOST writers. It was the perfect twist and gives her depth. She switches between the sweet and seemingly vulnerable Mary Margaret to the mischievous Snow White without missing a beat. But in Storybooke, her and Charming don't get their happy ending yet. Regina (Evil Queen) does what she's best at and meddles.



1: Modern Family, “The Musical Man,"
Modern Family is simply brilliant. The characterization is top notch. I don’t recall any sitcom making me LOL so much week after week.

If I had to pick a favorite episode across all shows in 2011, it was “The Musical Man.” The main plot was Cameron relishing his role as interim music director at Luke and Manny's school and taking on the upcoming spring musical performance with a little too much zest. The entire ordeal was hilarious and the witty play on words was even better. The kids, you might expect, aren't happy with Cameron's obsessed behavior, and one of them wants to leave for soccer practice. Cam reminds him the cast of Rent never went to soccer practice and they have a Tony. Then Luke points out “we have a Tony’ by pointing to his classmate. Then Manny talks to Mitch on the side about Cameron driving everyone crazy.

MANNY: "Reuben hasn't had a bowel movement in a week! Don't laugh! That's how Elvis died."

Then  Cam reacted exactly the way you'd think: by going crazy. He introduced these kids to the greats: Bernstein, Sondheim.

CAM: "Years from now, some of these kids will still be talking about how I Sondeim-ized them!"

It’s this type of comedy that brings me to tears. Then of course the epic ending that had me ROFL. Luke was hung up in the wires but Cam insisted they go out for the finale and spell out "We Love the World". Except Luke needed to be down from the wires to add the L to make "World." Cam figures the hell with it, and lowers the Franklin School logo. Sure enough, we get "We Love the F Word". Classic.